The Talk
by 8belles
Summary: Slight AU- What would happen if Bucky and Stark set down to talk their "issues" out. What if it happened in the middle of a mission? What if one of them was dying? Guess you'll have to read and see. (taking K.Feige at his word that Steve had been visiting Bucky in Wakanda after his "cure"- between CA:CW and IW) The Teams of Civil War are mostly here. NO DUST. :-)
1. Chapter 1

Steve looked worriedly at Bucky as they sat in his small thatched hut that rested peacefully near a sparkling blue lake. The former Winter Soldier gazed back with resolve, leaning forward, elbows resting on his knees.

"I know, Steve."

"He might be there."

"I don't care. I am part of the team, right?"

Rogers didn't answer but cast his eyes to the dirt floor covered with an intricately woven grass mat.

"We're a team. We stick together, and I'm finally back together." Bucky gave a smirk and shoved Rogers in the shoulder with his new Wakandan arm, "And Shuri has taken very good care of me."

"I know." Rogers studied the grasses twisted in the mat some more. "But."

Finally, Steve broke his study of the rug, looking up anxiously. Bucky leaned back, resting against the wall of his cabin, his eyes dark.

"You think Stark will still try to kill me."

"It's not a stretch, Buck."

"Sure. Like no one else on the earth has tried to kill me."

"This is different."

"How? Revenge is fairly universal." Bucky gave a dry laugh, "Like how you wanted it for… whatshisname, Georgie Small? Ironic last name, that one."

Steve gave a tight smile as the memory of the long, lanky pale boy with the perpetually shaggy hair that defied all the combs in the world. He was one of Rogers' nemeses in the tenement when they were children.

* * *

 _The courtyard dust was stirred into the air as the children dashed around, squealing, trying to find hiding spots before Georgie counted to ten. Any hole or crevice large enough to push a tiny body was found; Steve thought he found the perfect one, behind a cracked wood door that led to a dark staircase._

 _"Nine, TEN!" Georgie's raspy, lackluster voice rang out into the yard. Quickly, his dull grey eyes scanned the space from his precocial height, hair dangling over his brows. "I'm coming for you!" A few suppressed giggles and snorts came in reply._

 _He didn't move forward those easily found targets but instead looked for the hardest one: Steve Rogers._

 _Creeping around like Nesferatu, he raked the yard and doorways for any sign of the small boy. His eyes found Bucky behind some crates, still as stone, but Barnes's gaze was fire aimed at Georgie. He knew Georgie was trouble for Steve and his temper pricked at his cheeks as sweat trickled down the back of his neck._

 _Finally, the faintest wheeze was heard. Georgie swiveled his long neck like a snake, bony arms folded like a praying mantis about to strike. In a few leggy strides, he pulled the door back in a flash and had his willowy forearm pressed up against Rogers's throat just above his larynx._

 _"You know why there's only one of you? Because your dad is gay." Georgie breathed foully into Steve's face, his lightless eyes under shaggy black hair drilling into him. Steve's eyes narrowed as he tried to breathe. "He likes boys. That's why he's in the Army to be around a bunch of dicks."_

 _"Hey Dip Stick!" Bucky's voice cut the scene short, fists balled._

 _Straightening up to his full height, Georgie towered over Barnes. Steve slid down the wall, gasping and coughing. "Steve's it."_

 _"You piece of-"Steve gasped, struggling to his feet. As Georgie brushed by both of them, he casually knocked Rogers with the back of his hand. Steve rocked back, hitting his head on the wall. Barnes went to catch his friend who fell to the ground in a heap._

 _"You're going to get it, Georgie! One of these days!" Barnes fumed as he felt a knot forming on the back of Steve's head._

 _"Yeah. I'll get one of your sisters, Barnes." Georgie said casually as he stepped back into the light of the courtyard._

 _"I'll get him. I swear it." Steve's weak voice added as he nodded in and out of consciousness._

 _Bucky looked down at his best friend worriedly and scooped him up carefully taking the staircase back to the Rogers's apartment. "I'll help you."_

* * *

"Yeah. Too bad the flu got him before I did." Steve remarked shifting his weight, eyes flinty.

"I'm coming with you on this mission." Bucky stated, crossing his arms. Steve sighed.

"I don't need to remind you about the part of becoming an international war criminal if you do this, right?" Rogers replied wryly, his eyes mischievous.

Using his new left arm, Bucky threw Steve out the doorway.


	2. Chapter 2

"Rhodey, tell me again why we are here?" Tony sounded supremely bored as the drab landscape smeared by below.

The eye roll contained in the pause was audible, "Because there are nukes involved here, Tony."

"Oh yeah. That. I think I'm an expert on those. Did I ever tell-"

"Yes. Yes you did." Rhodey stopped him mid-sentence not wanting to hear all about the chitauri and their space window _again_.

"At least you haven't bored Parker to death with that yarn." Natasha purred from the quinjet.

"Thanks for reminding me."

"What did I miss? Did I miss one of your Avengers stories, Mr. Stark?" Peter chimed in optimistically.

"Don't get him started!" Rhodey interjected, sounding slightly panicked.

"Kid, if you were old enough to drink, I'd take you out and tell you _all_ the stories." Tony sounded wistful.

The rest of the team, besides Parker and Vision, who had remained quiet, groaned.

"What?" Tony asked indignant.

"Approaching target." Vision commented. The bunkers were low, almost invisible buildings from the sky, but very solidly defended. Anti-aircraft guns were hiding under camo tarps as the sky began to light up with ordinance.

"Great idea to come in at day time eh?" Tony remarked as he flew a zig zag pattern to avoid the projectiles.

"Not sure this one made any difference." Natasha answered as she piloted the quinjet expertly, dropping altitude while firing her own missiles. Parker sat crouched in the seat, nervous. Natasha glanced over at the boy, "Calm down kid. I've done this a thousand times."

As she said those words, a missile struck the wing with a thud and loud boom. Flames erupted near the engine.

"Romanov, you ok?" Rhodey was besides her in his Iron Patriot suit.

Natasha began to flick switches and punch buttons, "Yep. Gonna put her down nice an easy here but this changes a few things."

"Yeah just a few." Rhodey dodged ordinance.

"Are going to crash, Ms. Romanov?" Peter asked, his voice a bit unsteady.

Natasha looked fondly at him like a puppy, "Yes. And it's Natasha."

Peter swallowed trying to reassure himself that if he can fight the Vulture, then he can certainly handle this.

The other airborne Avengers swooped and dove around the sky firing at the ground support as Natasha guided the plane down. Eventually, they stopped firing all together and the sky became quiet.

Climbing out of the smoking quinjet, Romanov and Parker jogged a safe distance from it and took cover behind a small hill covered in scrub plants. "Anyone think it's weird they just gave up?" she asked.

"Not really." Tony replied from above with an acid note. "I bet **they** are here."

"Who are they?" Parker asked.

Natasha looked at Peter, his mask a pile of wrinkled red fabric on his head like a messy headband, "Cap."

"He's _not_ Captain America anymore." Tony snapped, circling. Natasha regretted for a moment her mic was on.

"We know Tony." Rhodey soothed, thinking in his head and feeling like a child between two divorced parents, _"This is still hard for_ _ **all**_ _of us."_

Parker looked, wide eyed at Romanov and nodded in understanding. Vision alighted nearby and approached their position.

"The question remains; do we go in as planned or play it by ear?" Visions characteristically neutral voice hinted at something because he knew Wanda might be nearby.

"I think we secure the target, neutralize it before it makes a getaway." Stark replied his voice cranked up a few notes from just a moment ago when they were cruising towards their objective.

"Can _you_ handle it?" Natasha interjected pointedly. It had only been a few months after Siberia.

A flash of dust and the whirr of gears later, Romanov was looking into the angry, unmasked face of Stark, his eyes dangerously black, "What I _can_ and _cannot_ handle, Natasha, is none of your damn business."

She coolly regarded him with her green eyes and replied smoothly, "Honey, we don't want to fight in front of the kids."

Peter slowly pulled his mask down as if that made him invisible.

With a huff, Stark launched again, Natasha throwing up a hand to protect her face from flying debris.

"Move in." Iron Man streaked towards the bunkers. The rest of the team followed suit.


	3. Chapter 3

Sam sent in Redwing ahead, the small drone skimming lightly over the ground. "I am seeing the bunkers and the trucks. They have… anti-aircraft guns." He paused as the guns began to fire towards the sky. A quick glance skyward revealed two flying suits, Vision and a quinjet, "And Stark's Team Traitor is here too."

Steve bit his tongue and frowned. "I get it. You're still mad about the Raft. We need to focus on the target right now. But it wouldn't hurt to give them some help. They still are … our friends." Cap responded diplomatically and looked at Bucky. With a dark grin, Barnes shouldered his large rifle and moved out to dismantle the air to ground missiles. "Where are those warheads?" He followed the path Bucky had created but stayed close to buildings since he was without his shield.

"Working on it." Sam's voice returned with a hint of an edge as Rogers heard repeats from Barnes's rifle as one by one the anti-aircraft defenses were taken out. He couldn't repress a smile; this was exactly how they should be, fighting side by side just like the old days. Steve knew he'd be forever indebted to Shuri for giving him his friend back, the only person in the world who knew him better than himself.

The drone flew on, avoiding missiles from Tony's group and reported back the downed quinjet. "I think Natasha and Spider boy are on the ground." Falcon stated with a hint of disgust.

"You mean Spider Man." Steve chided.

"Man, that kid can't even drive. He's no man." Sam shot back.

"I second that. I was older than him when I joined the army. That kid can't even shave." Bucky added, grouchily. They heard him reload his gun.

"Still bitter about being webbed?" Rogers commented. The comms stayed quiet. He smiled again. Since Wakanda, he'd been doing a lot of that lately: smiling.

 _What is Captain America without war? Ultron's voice whispered._

 _I'm not Captain America anymore._ Rogers set his thoughts firmly in the present.

"Nukes?"

"Under us. About 100 feet below. There are ten bunkers. Control bays are closer to the surface."

"Ok. Regroup. Stay out of Stark's way and let's find a way in to those control panels before he does." Rogers stated as he peaked around a building to see Tony on the ground looking the other way.

* * *

"Tony, we have a problem." Rhody's voice sounded taut.

"What?" Stark replied, looking for a way into the bunkers that he was seeing on his in-helmet schematics. Instead, he saw a muted gold flash in his periphery. Without turning his head to give away his awareness, he glanced in his display and saw the outline of a metallic arm. His heart thudded in his ears as his vision began to tint red.

"We have incoming." Rhody's voice cut through his fury.

"Incoming what?" Natasha asked.

"Missiles!"

"Who's" Tony asked, not really caring as long as they killed Barnes.

"Ours. U.S." Rhody finished, sounding disappointed.

"What?" Peter squeaked.

"Ross not think you're moving fast enough to do the job after the Raft incident?" Widow observed.

Tony didn't take the bait but remained focused on the elbow he had in view. Apparently, Bucky didn't realize Stark was there as he stood behind the now quiet bunker reloading his weapon.

"ETA?" Natasha asked since Tony remained silent.

"3 minutes."

"That's plenty of time." Stark whispered absently to himself.

"To do what, Tony?" Natasha asked, casually.

* * *

Steve saw Tony pivot and turn to face another bunker, raising his arm, the repulsor in his palm powering up. He was looking at something, but Rogers wasn't sure what until he spoke. "Come out, Barnes."

Caps' blood chilled. This was exactly what he had feared.

Peeking out, Steve saw Bucky's arm and then the rest of him come into view, hands still on his rifle.

"We aren't here to fight each other, Tony." Bucky stated neutrally, not taking his finger off the trigger.

"True. But I'd like to take advantage of the opportunity."

"And your team? How would they like to know you chose a personal vendetta over completing a mission?"

"They'll get over it."

Steve wanted to yell, scream or make any disturbance to distract Tony from Bucky but he was frozen to the ground with Sam's announcement, "We have incoming missiles. They will blow this place to hell with us in it. We need to pull back now!"

Bucky smiled at Stark, hearing Sam in his comm. "I think we all have a slightly larger problem now, Tony."

Tony shifted slightly, "If that problem helps me destroy you, it will be worth it."

* * *

"STEVE! BUCKY! Get out now!" Sam exclaimed.

Simultaneously, Rhody yelled, "TONY! GET OUT!"

A high pitched whistle came in from above and all Steve knew was he was flying backwards as all the air was sucked out his lungs.


	4. Chapter 4

Tony woke to the sound of ringing in his ears. Every fiber of his being _hurt_. Focusing on breathing, he thought, _I'm getting too old for this_. His first system check was on himself, gently wiggling toes and fingers, trying to figure out where he was and when was it?

The recall hit him: the missile. The mission. Barnes.

"Friday!" he tried to be forcefull but it came out more as a groan.

"Here Boss."

"Systems check."

"All running normally, but I'd say you've had a knock on the head."

"Getting blown up will do that to you." Tony moved his arms and legs that were stuck under some smaller debris, the gears and servos of his suit working against gravity. Pushing up from the "floor" of rubble, he sat upright in the pitch-black void within the destroyed bunker. Stark activated a light on his helmet and scanned the space.

The bunker walls had held from the blast, they must be fairly far down in the shaft he concluded. Huge boulders of debris from above lay scattered about them like rocky marshmallows. The space wasn't huge by any means; no getting up and walking around today but he wasn't crushed either.

Sweeping the space in a 360-degree arc, he found Barnes.

Bucky was laying on his back, head pillowed by a chunk of concrete, two pipes of rebar sticking up out of his chest on the right, arms stretched out in a graceful arc as if waiting for angels.

Tony's breath stopped. Was Barnes dead?

Getting up, Stark moved over to Bucky's left side in a half crouch, his helmet brushing the ceiling. A large dark stain appeared below Barnes and trailed off into the blackness over the boulders of debris. The schematics of Bucky appeared in his visor as Friday scanned him, but she remained silent. Tony reached out a gloved hand to feel for a pulse.

The cool metal fingers touched Bucky's neck. Blue eyes snapped open as blood frothed from his lips. Tony backpedaled in fear, stumbling over rocks, and falling on his backside. The flashlight bounced wildly over the void and then settled on the ceiling making the rest of the space fall into darkness.

Tony gasped several times as his heart hammered in his chest.

Once his breathing quieted, he heard a faint whisper, "Finish it."

Sitting up, gathering himself, he shined the light back on Barnes, who had his eyes open but squinted against the light. "Finish it. It's what you want, right?" A trail of crimson leaked down the corner of his mouth.

Tony sat paralyzed with conflict. Here was his mother's murderer. His father's assassin. Steve knew and never told him. Here was his chance to get revenge. T'Challa was a great man for not falling into that trap, but he wasn't T'Challa. He was Tony Stark! He was Iron Man!

Another voice answered, your mother raised you better than this. He needs help. You need help. You are not God, you are Iron Man.

Friday interrupted his personal demons, "Boss, he's going to bleed to death if you don't do something."

Stark sat vacillating between murder and mercy. Voices began to yell at him from every angle to act, or not to act, calling him names, faces of the dead, Sokovia, Pepper, New Yorkers, blurring together into an incoherent mess.

"STOP!" he yelled into his helmet grabbing the sides of his head. Bucky didn't flinch. He knew who Tony was talking to because he had heard those voices too.

Taking off the helmet, he propped it on block so that the light shined on Bucky. Scooting over to Barnes, he told Friday, "Activate Red Cross protocol."

"Sure thing Boss." Friday replied as tiny compartments popped open and what looked like ants crawled out of them. They formed an orderly line and marched down Tony's arm, which he then extended towards Bucky as if he was in Michelangelo's painting, "The Creation of Adam".

"What…?" Barnes rasped as the tiny bots began to walk down his arm, but he was too weak to move.

"Red Cross protocol. It's a bit of first aide nano-tech. I got the idea from… Ant Man." Tony admitted reluctantly, "These tiny bots will close off any internal bleeding until we can get you out of here." Stark sulked slightly, "You might feel some discomfort. I've never used them on a job this big."

Barnes tried to pull away, but he was too drained. Shuri had fixed his mind to remove the murder in his head but it didn't erase the fear of being helpless, experimented on and tortured. As the bots crawled over his metallic arm to flesh, his skin prickled. They moved on to the rebar sticking through his lungs and crawled down and inside his chest. He was on fire from the inside out. Gasping for air, blood misting above him with each panicked breath, he thrashed weakly on his impaling spikes.

Stark was not above himself to say in the process of saving Bucky's life, he wasn't enjoying seeing him in agony. "Relax. Let them do their job."

Barnes blacked out.

Tony smiled.


	5. Chapter 5

Steve smelled the earth, damp and soot covered. Cautiously he opened his eyes a fraction and it was dark… where was he? His head spun as his brain slowly became aware that everything was fine but he felt like he had been wrung through his mother's hand washing with extra naptha soap.

Dark?

He realized that he was lying face down over a pile of rubble as gravel and soil clung to his cheeks and chin, pressing into his lips.

A clarion bell went off in his head; the missile… Stark…where was Bucky!

Jerking upright in alarm, eliciting a growl of pain, he scrambled to a sitting position. His vision spun in crazy circles so that he physically grabbed his head in his hands as if that could steady it. Paused by his concussion, he didn't move but rather looked at the huge crater that lay before him. Blocks of concrete the size of busses strewn about like children's discarded toys. Smoke rose in lazy circles above the bland landscape as black burn marks punctuated the ground like giant paint splotches. Once his vision steadied, he gingerly stood up, stretching battered muscles and walked to the edge of the crater. The hole descended several stories down. A pit of despair the size of the crater began to form in Steve's stomach.

Bucky was tough, but he didn't have an exoskeleton like Tony.

A moan caught his attention and instead of taking a defensive position, he went to the source. Natasha was delicately picking herself out of the rubble a few yards away from the edge of the crater. Some more debris moved, and Peter began to extricate himself. "Parker, that is the LAST time I let you drive." Natasha stated.

"But Ms. Natasha, I wasn't." Peter picked himself free wincing here and there.

Natasha looked at him with a smirk, "I'm joking."

"Oh." Peter chuckled self-consciously, "I get it."

"You two ok?" Steve asked, arriving on the scene.

Natasha looked Steve up and down appraisingly. Rogers felt his cheeks color under his beard as her eyes moved over him, "The beard… I like it."

"Umm, Ms. Natasha, aren't' we supposed to arrest him?" Parker suggested quietly.

Natasha glanced over her shoulder at Peter, "Look kid, it's NATASHA. That's it. No 'Miss' anything. Got it?" Peter swallowed, "Yes, technically we should but we have some other things to deal with right now, like finding the rest of our friends."

"Friends? I'm confused." Peter frowned.

"Yeah, you're 16. Of course you're confused." She responded and walked over to Rogers, reaching for a hug.

Steve embraced the assassin in a brotherly hug, "You look pretty good yourself."

"Are you flirting with me, Steve?"

A wash of discomfort from the 1940's washed over his expression but then he put it away, "We need to find the others."

"What's the hurry?"

"Bucky and Tony are down in that demolished bunker."

Her eyes got wide; the implications were very clear.

Peter turned several directions like a dog trying to scent the wind, "I think I remember Vision and Rhody being over there somewhere."

"Sam was this way." Steve gestured.

"Where's Wanda?" Natasha asked.

"Too soon after the Raft." Steve replied gruffly.

"Umm, yeah. I wanna know why General Ross would shoot a missile at **us** knowing we were right here taking care of business." Peter said, annoyed.

The two older Avengers looked at their youngest member.

"Maybe he wanted Steve's group dead, knowing they'd show up." Natasha offered. That was pretty standard assassination protocol; lure in the target with bait and boom! Job done.

"Maybe he wanted all of us dead, knowing we'd all be here together." Rogers looked down at Romanov.

"That double crossing son of a-" her voice took a low dangerous tone.

"BUT- we don't _know_ that." Steve cut her off.

"How can you be so… forgiving." Green eyes framed by dusty red hair became hard like emeralds.

"When you're as old as I am, carrying a grudge does you no good." Steve replied, moving off where Sam was last seen, "See what it did to Tony?"

Her hackles came down, yes, she did see what that had done to Tony. It was one of the reasons they were standing there right now. "Let's recon after everyone is recovered and we can get a plan going."

"10-4."

"What's 10-4?" Peter asked. Natasha rolled her eyes, _kids these days_.


	6. Chapter 6

Bucky came to gradually this time, eyes cracking open at the sound a crackling wrapper. His gaze revealed what looked like a starry night at first, tiny white LED lights sprinkled across the ceiling making him think of the pristine dark skies at the front in WWII when the shelling stopped for a few hours.

 _Correction, Barnes, you are not in Italy. You are underground with a man who hates you beyond all imagining_ , he reprimanded himself. The glow was peaceful and calming despite every breath grated his ribs on steel making him want to stop to end the pain. _You've been through worse, Buck_ , he mentally sighed, _besides, what would Steve sa_ y _?_

"Ah, you're up." Tony looked casually over at the prone soldier.

Bucky remained silent, conserving his energy.

"Not much for conversation, but I get it." He took a bite of his power bar, "You didn't say much for the last seventy years or so, if I get your history right."

Bucky narrowed his eyes in a frown.

"It's ok." Tony continued munching, "Those bots working for you? You look a bit better." His tone was feigning concern.

Finally, Bucky had enough and gathered enough air to hiss, "Stop with the bullshit."

"Oh, so you want to have an _honest_ conversation down here where we both may be the last people we see on Earth before we run out of air!?" Tony snapped angrily, eyes dangerously dark.

"I got all the time" Bucky swallowed painfully but forcing a snarky smile, "In the world."

Stark sat back and took another angry bite of his energy bar. Several minutes passed as Bucky concentrated on breathing and not passing out again, wondering how much longer he had.

"I _am_ sorry, Tony." It was barely audible.

"I know." Tony couldn't look at him, the honesty was too raw.

"I know I did it." A wheeze escaped him from his collapsed lung, "But I couldn't stop it."

"I know!" The words echoed like a thunder clap.

Bucky, wide eyed and gasping for breath, passed out again.


	7. Chapter 7

An uncomfortable semicircle of friends partially assembled at the bunker's hole. Peering over smoke plumes at the edge gave them something else to do besides look at each other.

Steve glanced at the sun; it was midafternoon. They had started their assault just around daylight. Valuable time was being lost and it was obvious that the powers who fired the bunker buster missile believed their objective attained. The sky was eerily quiet and pristine blue.

"Well, Cap. What's the order?" Rhody quietly broke the silence.

Steve turned his bearded face to the iron clad soldier, a small frown creasing his brow, "It's Steve." He looked back at the hole, "Work the problem. Assuming they are alive, air will be at a premium. Can we get any radio contact?"

"My estimation is they have about four hours of air, based on the type of ordinance, the bunker diameter and other factors." Vision added, his face unflappable.

"I've tried to raise Tony, but either he's too deep, his equipment is damaged, or- " Rhody left it hanging.

Widow and Peter added their gaze to the hole, thinking.

"Can you phase into the space they are occupying?" Natasha asked Vision.

"No. I cannot phase that far without knowing where I am going to. The debris field is too thick. Even if I could, I cannot carry things to them or bring them back with me." With an attempt at dark humor, he added, "This isn't _Star Trek_."

"Can we just start moving rocks?" Peter thought out loud.

"With what equipment? If Banner was here, maybe." Rogers answered. Romanov looked slightly hurt.

"If only Wanda was here." Vision sighed.


	8. Chapter 8

Stark sat on a piece of concrete, pillowing his chin like Rodin's "Thinker" and stared hard at the unconscious former assassin impaled on the rebar. He listened to the labored breathing of one functioning lung running low on blood. It sounded like a wet towel being pressed against his face and trying to draw breath; wet and sucking.

" _The amazing Sargent Barnes."_ His father's ghost resurfaced when he was quiet and that was part of the reason Tony liked to keep busy because it kept the voices silent.

"I know, dad."

" _Did I ever tell you-"_

"You probably did."

" _Indulge me, son."_

"Didn't I always?"

" _Mostly."_ A chuckle. An imagined clink of ice in a highball glass and the pouring of some good Kentucky bourbon. _"But I don't think I told you this one."_

"If it's in my head, you already have." The ghost didn't pay attention to that and continued.

" _I want you to know, it's not his fault. Zola and his minions were very good at what they did."_

"Doesn't change history."

" _That may be true, but it should help you be more compassionate."_

Tony gritted his teeth, " _The same compassion he showed you and mom."_

Stark heard a sigh, or maybe it was Bucky's ragged breathing, " _When Barnes came back from Italy, before the Commandos were created, Col. Philips wanted me to have a look over him. So I did. I knew Barnes before and he was … a lot like you."_

Tony startled. He kept listening to the voice, " _He was whip smart. Cocky. Great with the ladies. Really could have been something after the war, even my assistant in my lab. He was protective of Steve, even after he 'got big'. Just like you are protective over Pepper, the Avengers, Rhody. There were a lot of parallels. But then Zola got him. He was a changed man, Tony. Gone was the enthusiasm. The life in his eyes had been dimmed. James was forever changed."_

Tony knew that feeling that Christmas morning when the word came from his elderly butler, Jarvis, that his parents were dead. He was forever changed.

The voice paused as if sipping that imaginary bourbon, " _He swore to me he was fine. Only wanted to get back on the field to keep Steve outta trouble. That_ was _the trouble; he wasn't fine, and I didn't have a fix for it. Nothing in my powers of invention could have fixed what happened to that fine young man. I had to interrogate him, ask him terrible questions about what they did to him. What drugs did they use? Did they electrocute him, burn him, drown him, do surgeries on him? It was horrible._

 _No wonder he killed us. I deserved it. I was trying to make more of him."_

"That isn't true!" Tony fumed, his voice echoing off the riprap.

"But it **is** Tony _. Once Steve was presumed dead, the Cold War ramped up. The assassinations began and the CIA got in their head we could 'create' someone or something like that too for our own covert killings. It was the real purpose behind the Super Soldier serum I was trying to duplicate from Erskine's work. I was trying to pervert the purpose of what Erskine pioneered. I was a monster for trying."_

Tony sat in stunned silence. His dad was part of a secrete CIA program to make Winter Soldiers for the United States in retaliation?

"I am making this up." He stated plainly, waiving a dismissive hand in the gloom.

"No, Boss. You're not." Friday interjected.

"Are you reading my mind now?" he snorted.

"No. You just said all that out loud just now. I was fact checking. It's true." Opening his gloved hand to make a projected touch screen float in front of him, Friday displayed several documents that were labeled TOP SECRET and SHIELD floating just inches from his face.

"The data dump from Natasha." Tony whispered as he swiped through the stack of files. He saw his dad's name more than once. He kept swiping until he reached the World War 2 virtual file that the SSR had on Bucky. Not quite as detailed as the Russian one Natasha had given Steve years before, it held torturous secrets guarded by an innocent grainy black and white photo of a young James Buchannan Barnes in his pristine army uniform. Tony paused and cautiously pulled that thread. What he found was nothing short of inhumane.

After his eyes glazed from exhaustion, he looked around the blasted space with his tiny LED lights Tony felt utterly adrift. He couldn't even glance at Barnes. A war raged in his soul between the rage he felt at the loss of his parents versus the fresh new perspective he had just gained from the files. Who was he to complain about a bad childhood and subsequent life?

"I am so selfish."

"Not really Boss. You just have some PTSD."

"Just PTSD."

"And the oxygen levels in this chamber have dropped very low. You are also probably hallucinating. I'd put the helmet back on."

Tony looked at the gold and red helmet as it gazed back at him, his face partially distorted by the burnished metal. _Did you really do it, Dad?_ Looking back at Bucky, he suddenly felt small and insignificant. Slipping the helmet back on, he noticed a clarity of thought as the oxygen levels rose in his suit.

"Boss, if we don't get him some medical help soon, he's a gonner."

"I know." There was a hint of remorse in his voice. The radio circuitry in the suit had been bashed to bits on his fall or they were too deep under reinforced concrete to get a signal out. What was he going to do?

Bucky drifted. He felt a warm weight in his chest and the sensation of water or something buoying him until it covered his feet, hands, legs and arms slowly creeping towards his head A numbness followed by cold began to envelop him.

A subtle panic rose in him as this feeling increased with intensity; it was the same way the cooling fluid felt when they put him back in cryo. Suddenly he realized that he was drowning in this cold fluid, whatever it was. A stronger panic grabbed his guts as he tried to move but was too weak to twitch.

"Easy, Bucky." He heard a voice above him. Not Steve.

Feeling a pressure around his face, he barely cracked an eyelid. The Mark suit face with its glowing blue eyes looked down at him and was putting a clear mask over his mouth and nose. It sealed to his cheeks like a suction cup.

"In the event of a loss of cabin pressure," Tony joked acerbically, "An oxygen mask will drop from the compartment above. Pull the mask towards you and place the mask over to cover your mouth and nose."

"Getting a little toxic in here. That mask should keep you in the right gas for maybe another hour. Let's hope our … friends get here in time or we're both gone."

The pressure subsided in his chest and the chill in his limbs and gut receded slightly. The Stark tech was working, purifying the air for at least a few moments. Bucky relaxed and realized that maybe Tony wasn't going to kill him after all. With that criteria met, he slipped back into unconsciousness.

Tony rocked back on his heels and regarded the wounded man. Thoughts clashed in his head _. "_ _Your thoughts betray you, Father. I feel the good in you, the conflict._ _"_ He heard Mark Hamill's voice.

"I'm quoting _Star Wars_. Yep. I have lost my mind."

Friday stayed silent.


	9. Chapter 9

"We can't just stand around here and do nothing!" Peter paced angrily. The past few weeks had definitely formed a bond between him and Tony. That post ferry ship near disaster chat really cemented in his mind what it meant to be a hero. The suit didn't make the hero, the heart did and right now he was feeing heroically frustrated.

"We are thinking about solutions." Vision responded calmly. Sam, Steve and Natasha all watched the passions of youth make Peter aggravated about the situation. Rushing into this headlong would solve nothing, but the feeling of doing nothing because they couldn't weighed heavily on them.

Peter turned into Vison's face, almost nose to nose as he stood on the tips of his toes, "You are not Baymax! Stop making me feel like I'm helpless!"

"Hey. Enough." Steve interjected from under a frown as Vision's irises whirled quietly regarding the young man. Rhodey stood to the side, watching the situation unfold.

Parker stormed over to the bearded Rogers, his temper coloring his cheeks. "I bet you think this is great. Tony is down there, maybe dying, and if he does it's one less vendetta you have to collect. Those Accords won't be such a problem, will they?"

Natasha bristled, opening her mouth to respond to Peter's insolent tone. Sam's posture changed to one of defense. Steve raised his hand to both of them, his eyes dark under his thick brows. "I understand you are angry. I am too." He paused measuring his voice in low careful tones, watching Peter's throat bob up and down with unspoken words, "But my best friend is down there too. Last time, Tony tried to kill him for something he was commanded to do not by his own free will. Tony is also still a friend of mine, Peter. Don't forget that. This is not about the Accords."

Peter blinked away the tears that were reddening his eyes and balled his fists. He opened his mouth to retort but was interrupted by a woman's voice.

"Did you all miss me?" Wanda said as she gracefully floated down in swirl of red mist. Vision's smile could have lit a whole city.


	10. Chapter 10

A strange creaking sound began to fill the void, like large furniture being dragged across a floor. Stark looked up as bits of dust and debris came loose from above showering them in grains of sand and grit.

Not thinking, he rose and leaned over Bucky to protect him if any larger bits fell. Barnes was still unconscious and barely hanging on, each breath scarcely perceptible.

Slowly, bit by bit, he could feel the air pressure change and wafts of fresh air being introduced.

"Boss, I think we're being rescued."

"No, I'm being rescued. _You_ are still quite safe in my mainframe." Tony shot back grouchily.

"Just trying to be positive, Boss."

Pin points of light began to seep through, brighter than his tiny LED star lights, and finally a shaft of golden light pierced the darkness and landed on both of them like a haloing spotlight. Tony squinted reflexively as if the light had a pressure although his helmet adjusted automatically.

"Hurry! I can't hold this one for long!" Wanda's strained voice came from above. Tony spared a glance upward, still leaning over Barnes, and there she was hovering the giant piece of concrete with her glowing red mist. The image was like a Renaissance painting with her pulsing red energy. Vision floated down into the chamber ethereally, cape fanning out behind him.

"Tony, you are free to go if you can fly. Do you need assistance?" Vision commented, gesturing to the now open hole above them.

Disbelieving at their rescue, Tony shook his head slightly to snap out of it, "Yeah. Yeah. I can fly." Vision nodded as Stark fired up his boosters and hovered for a moment.

A cloud of dust was kicked up as he ascended.

Vision looked at the fallen former assassin, his readouts telling him he was very close to death. Analyzing the issue of the rebar, he knelt down and used his forehead laser to cut the rebar free just below Bucky's back. Barnes didn't move.

"Hurry Vis!" Wanda called, her breath panting with the effort.

"Coming!" he called, then added to himself, "My love."

Picking up the debris and Barnes in his arms, Vision began to ascend through the space she created.

Tony was standing to the side, Peter pelting him with a million questions, "Are you ok? What happened down there? Did he hurt you? Is this suit working ok? How did you see down there?"

"Parker!" Stark snapped, and Peter shrank back.

"Sorry, Mr. Stark." He looked contrite until he turned his gaze to Vision and Bucky. His mouth fell open and gorge rose in his throat seeing the impaled soldier.

"Bucky!" Steve exclaimed as Vision put him down carefully on the ground. Steve looked up angrily at Stark his mind whirling a million thoughts at him, if they had only moved out of the way of the incoming missile, none of this would have happened!

Vision walked towards Wanda who looked exhausted from shifting several tons of rock with her powers. She glared at Tony from her position.

Stark fidgeted under the judging weight of Wanda's gaze. Widow was darkly somber but her emotions were very close to the surface. Rhodey kept a watchful eye on the two Avenger leaders.

Sam leapt into action, "We need to get him to the quinjet ASAP. There is some of Dr. Cho's first responder tech in there."

"I will take him." Vision gave Wanda's shoulder a gentle squeeze and picked Barnes up again and both he and Sam launched off into the air. Steve gave Stark one more look and took off running in the same direction.

The remaining Avengers stood looking at each other. Tony picked at his helmet with a gloved hand, Parker watching his every move.

"How does it feel?" Natasha asked, her eyes not judging but genuinely asking.

Stark looked at her, a bit of shellshock in his eyes, "What do you mean?"

"Revenge." Wanda interjected. "I lived on revenge for over ten years, Tony. Revenge cost me everything."

Stark appeared to be thinking deeply, "I was wrong for what I let Ross do to you on the Raft. You should be blasting me from here to eternity."

"That means a lot coming from you." Wanda replied, uncrossing her arms, her voice firm, "It's a start."

Tony addressed Natasha's question, "It's not that great."

"But Mr. Stark, he killed your parents." Peter stated thinking of his own Uncle Ben. A part of him still despised those thieves even though everything he had worked on since was for the good of world. He wasn't sure what Tony was talking about with General Ross.

"It's not that simple." Tony explained, "Let's take a walk to the jet. I'll fill you in on my insights."

The five of them moved away from the destroyed bunker towards the quinjet in the distance, calling this mission complete.


	11. Chapter 11

Vision and Sam used the onboard tech to begin working on Bucky. Steve hovered nearby, every fiber in his being stretched thin. Dr. Cho had invented a blood substitute and it was now working its way into Bucky's veins. Vital statistics began to improve marginally. Tony's microbots inside his chest were doing a remarkable job patching blood vessels.

Sam finished as best he could with the resources at hand. His gaze went to Steve in the corner, his voice firm, "We need to get him out of here."

"I know. Can he make it?" Rogers voice was a mix of apprehension and anger.

"I know he won't if we don't get him to a hospital."

"The rest of the Avengers have arrived." Vision added, turning toward the cargo bay door.

"Peter isn't an Avenger _yet_." Tony said as he walked up the ramp. Peter stayed outside, quiet, still mentally digesting the SHIELD version of the Winter Soldier file. Natasha stood near him for support. "Vis, Sam, can you give us a moment?"

"You better hurry. We don't really have one." Sam replied with a sharp edge holding Tony's gaze firmly as he walked down the ramp.

"Yeah. I get it. Thanks." Tony stood across from Steve who was stonily silent.

"What do you want?"

Stark swallowed and looked down at Barnes, "He and I. We had a talk. Sort of a one sided one, but we got some thoughts out."

Steve stayed silent, vibrating with his worry for Bucky.

Tony continued, not taking his eyes off Bucky, "And I think I understand him better."

Rogers felt a thousand snarky comments well up in his mind, but he shoved them away because they were not going to do any good. He remembered this was not some back alley in Brooklyn, 1944. Trying to keep his voice level, he replied, "I'm glad. Maybe you understand he was not responsible for your parent's death."

"Yes." Tony stated, and Steve's face softened almost imperceptibly, "But, I'm not sure I can forgive him, yet."

Steve exhaled forcefully in frustration, "Great. I'm glad you made some headway.I need to get him out of here. Now."

"That's the problem. You have nowhere to go."

"But we do." Steve moved to look out the cargo bay door of the downed quinjet. A Wakandan ship appeared coming out of cloaking, piloted by Sam. "Don't follow us."

"Or what?"

Steve only looked at Tony, his face unsympathetic.

Sam rushed in and packed up Bucky as best he could, wheeling him out quickly to the Wakandan aircraft, ignoring the two titans of the Avengers.

Steve moved to walk down the ramp and then looked back over his shoulder, "Tony, thanks for helping him down there. You could have let him die." He gave a brief glance at the rest of the fractured Avengers outside watching Bucky being loaded up, each of them looking conflicted and uncomfortable. Returning his gaze to Stark, "When you all get home, I'd be asking Ross why he shot a bunker buster at you. I think that needs more attention than us right now."

Tony gave him a nod and began to play with his helmet again.

Steve strode down the ramp as Wanda moved in behind him to board the Wakandan ship. She looked saddly at Vision who had wretched expression. The rest of the team watched the jet power up and cloak as it sailed off into the sky.

Natasha looked up at Tony, who had peaked out of the cargo bay area and asked, "You know how to fix one of these things?"

"Rhodey… get me my tools. We got a lot to fix."

"That's an understatement." Rhodey replied, shuffling off to get a tool box for the jet.

"Ms. Romanov?" Peter said.

Too tired to argue semantics with him, she turned her head, "Yeah, kid?"

"Will they work it out? Tony and Steve?"

"I hope so. We all need them together again."


	12. Chapter 12

"Shuri, you are truly a miracle worker." Steve exhaled when she told him that Bucky would make a full recovery and it was actually Tony's tech, although rudimentary in design but commendable in concept, was what kept Barnes from bleeding to death.

"You think I would let the man, who I spent so much time on reconstructing, die?" She teased the former Avenger. Steve blushed under his beard. "He is worth every minute of my effort."

"I don't know how to thank you." Rogers responded, his voice low, "He just means so much to me."

"Then just say thank you. Stop tripping over yourself." Shuri laughed lightly reaching to hold his callused hands calmly in hers in a gesture of friendship. Rogers had to smile in spite of himself. "Go. Go see him."

Rogers squeezed her hands with a twinkle in his eyes like a kid at Christmas and turned to enter Bucky's suite. The sliding door opened soundlessly. Barnes was propped up with pillows behind him, a nasal cannula perching below his nostrils. His eyes were closed, and he had an expression of repose on his face.

Steve took a chair next to the bed. Surprisingly, Barnes turned his head and cracked an eye open. "Punk." he said softly, a small flinch on his face as his ribs moved with breathing.

Rogers didn't realize he was holding his own breath, but he responded automatically, "Jerk."

"I love it here." Bucky sighed contentedly.

"Yeah. It's nice. We are lucky as hell."

"Tell me about it."

There was a long pause. Bucky broke it with an understated question in a gravelly voice, "Stark ok?"

Rogers blinked, "Him? He's fine. Not happy but ok."

"The rest of them ok?"

"Yeah."

There was another silence. Bucky shifted a little in his bed and winced. Finally, Steve broke the quiet, "Stark says he might understand your past better."

"Is that so?"

"He said something about understanding you better after being trapped with you, but he can't quite forgive you yet."

"Don't blame him."

"Bucky-"

"No." Barnes held Steve's gaze with his eyes sporting shadows under them. "See it from his perspective."

"That's kind of hard when you were not responsible." There was an edge in Steve's voice.

"But it was me."

A nurse chimed at the door and then entered. "I'm sorry Mr. Rogers. Visiting time is up."

Steve nodded and then glanced at Bucky looking like he wanted to keep talking. Instead he offered, "Rest up. We need you."

"Take your own advice." Bucky snarked back weakly. Rogers smiled a halfhearted smile and departed.

* * *

Natasha rolled the glass of vodka in her hand lost in her thoughts as the clear liquid pirouetted in the light. Bucky's ghost-like face when Vision brought him up, the lightening crackling between Steve and Tony still like a hurricane just looking for some more hot water to feed on, Vision and Wanda's clear desire for each other. Parker was just flattened by realizing the world truly sucks in ways he couldn't imagine. The only three who seemed to be ok were her, Sam and Rhodes. Who was she joking ...What a mess they all still were. When Nick was around, this would never have happened. A quick glance from that singular eye and everyone would snap to. Who knew where he was now, but either he needed to come back or Tony and Steve needed to square up.

Peter sat nearby on the couch in the Avenger Tower lounge trying to relax. He glanced over at the Russian for something to do.

"What's on your mind, kid?"

Peter blinked and looked away, a disturbed expression on his face, "Nothing."

"Something."

Peter leaned forward and put is head in his hands to stare at the carpet, "I can't believe… I just can't believe that …."

"That my mother country did those things to a human being?"

Parker said nothing but shuddered slightly.

"It's ok, Peter." Natasha stopped swirling her glass, "That was a lot for you to hear."

"I feel like I should be handling this better. I know there is evil in the world! That's why I want to help fight it!" he sat up, his cheeks red in temper, justice sparking in his eyes.

"You're a kid. Cut yourself some slack. You have a whole lifetime to become hard. Don't do it too soon or you'll regret it." Oily memories the color of blood leaked out into her consciousness.

"Will I?" Peter snapped back tired of being told he was just a kid.

Natasha sipped her vodka and leveled a look that could kill, emptying her eyes of all emotion and compassion as the bloody memories drained her, "You will."

Peter sat back dumbfounded, his temper cooled by her icy stare. He hadn't seen that side of Natasha ever before. He quickly got the hint she was trying to convey and decided to look out the window at lower Manhattan instead of the assassin.

* * *

Tony sat alone in his basement. It was probably the worst place and best place to be after they returned home from the botched mission. His drink of choice was bourbon as it sat chilling in the highball glass. Stark watched the ice melt and dilute the liquor as he reflected on the communique that had come in a few hours ago from Ross that the missile was a misfire from bad intel.

" _Let me get this straight. You tried to kill us because your satellite can't tell a terrorist from an Avenger. Must be god-awful tech."_

 _Ross frowned in the hologram, his mustache bristling, "That is not what I meant nor what happened, Tony."_

" _Is that so? Well, I have a different view of things that made me and my team see it a bit more lethally."_

" _We thought_ _ **they**_ _were with you."_

" _Oh, you mean Steve 'I'm not Captain America anymore' Rogers and his merry band of_ _America's Most Wanted_ _?"_

" _C'mon Tony. I understand you are angry- ."_

" _Angry doesn't even cover it." Tony pointed an annoyed finger at the hologram desperately wishing he could blast the projected image with his hand thruster. "When you risk our lives to do your dirty work in the name of the United Nations, and then shoot a megaton missile on us at a target who wasn't even there, you got a lot of nerve to ask me to calm down."_

 _Ross gave a large sigh. "You didn't see them? We have footage."_

" _Do you?" Tony frowned. He had had Friday scrub any record of Steve or his group from all levels of surveillance shortly after they began the flight home._

 _Ross looked off hologram at someone as they whispered in his ear. Tony smiled internally as Ross began to look more perturbed. Maintaining his angry ruse, Stark pretended to fume, even though he was truly infuriated for almost being killed._

" _I know you, Tony Stark. I think you're covering up something." Ross concluded plainly._

 _Tony scoffed and threw his hands up in the air, "For crying out loud, Ross. You got some nerve telling me I'd willingly protect the one person I'd like to see deader than a doornail."_

" _But he's Steve's best friend."_

" _And that is one shield he can't hide behind anymore."_

" _We'll review that full report."_

" _You can review my ass."_

 _Ross made a face and then blipped out of sight._

The ice kept melting in the glass as Tony stared at the shield his father had made and that Steve had abandoned after almost killing him with it, that now hung on the wall. Absently, he picked up the glass. Somewhere inside of himself, he saw his father looking down and feeling sorry that his son was torn between his friendship and his loyalty to an absentee dad.

"What do I do now?" he said out loud taking a small sip of the bourbon. Instead of soothing, it was a fiery lance down his throat.

Tony pulled out the flip phone with one preprogramed number on it. Taking another sip of the drink, he shook his head lightly. "Not yet. Sorry Dad. Not yet."


End file.
